Sweat, blood and tears
by Ekhi
Summary: They could have assigned them to the kitchen, or to the new police team… Damn it, he preferred to be cutting down the stupid hedges or picking up dog shit before doing… that. (Future AU)


**Hi! This is the just the… third or fourth? time that I try to translate something I already wrote it in Spanish so… Sorry for any grammar, spelling, "meaning" mistakes. I tried my best…**

This "one shot" is actually a chapter of a fic that I started a while ago thinking about that conversation between Zach and Daryl about his work before everything went to shit. I know he said he was nothing, no one but… what's the imagination for? So… I started this strange, multi chapter fic where I write down every job that I pictured Daryl doing before (some of them in the future too like this one) from grave digger to firefighter, exorcist (yes, I'm crazy I know), street fighter and more and to things like the one below. I already had translated another one of the jobs and uploaded it a while ago, and this is the second one I try translating ^^

Warning: this is an absolute and complete future AU? It's that a warning?

So… Anyway, I don't own The Walking Dead or any character of the series or the comics (I wish I did). I just take them from time to time.

*hides behind the curtain*

* * *

**Sweat, blood and tears**

_*15 years since the beginning of the outbreak*_

Five minutes had already passed since he sat down on the mattress with the backpack in front of his feet. The handle was on his right hand, his thumb touching the old cloth, thinking about letting it go and just stepping down for once and all.

He stared back to the window, it was time to get out of there and go to class. He grunted onto his hands covering his face. With his face still covered, he heard the door opening and the sound of footsteps approaching him

"You are going to be late."

Daryl picked through his fingers Beth's head beside the door. Her and her blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. Her and her black sport leggings with a bright sleeveless strawberry pink t-shirt. Daryl blinked, he wasn't still used to see the normalcy with whom she dressed those clothes after what they have been trough. It was already the time to get back to that kind of frivolities like going to gym or things like that in this new world?

He lowered his gaze to his pack and took it from the floor without much excitement. Beth smiled slightly.

"Someone had to do it…" She said shrugging her shoulders giving the answer to the question Daryl always made himself every single day when that moment came: why did they have to do that task?

They could have assigned them to the kitchen, or to the new police team… Damn it, he preferred to be cutting down the stupid hedges or picking up dog shit before doing… that. He was grateful his brother was dead for that long time and couldn't see him in that moment, crossing the principal door and walking down the hallway with sparkling lights and armed men towards his class.

Yes. HIS class. Their class.

Beth entered the class in the first place and waved at the men who were guarding down the door. Both men nodded at her with a whole new meaning of respect on their gestures, respect that banished through the window the moment they saw him. A bitten smile showed up on the face of one of them while the other looked away from him.

"One fucking laugh and will rip your heads off." He warned them with a low tone adjusting the strap of his pack on his shoulder before entering.

Both guards shook their heads side to side. As the door closed he heard their laughs beating each other to keep silent. He breathed deeply trying to not open the damn door and kick their asses six ways to Sunday. Beth touched his forearm, taking a hold of him towards the center of the class.

"Go, get changed while I organized them a bit." She said trying to pull away the murderous thoughts from his head.

Beth pushed him towards the little room they have as a dressing room. Well, he was the only one who used it. She didn`t care about the stares she attracted while walking down the streets with sport leggings and sneakers. He still had a bit of self-love, dignity and… He huffed out a breath closing himself inside the dressing room. Who was he lying to?

Daryl pulled out his tracksuit trousers and the sleeveless black t-shirt. He stared back at the once white bands on the side of the trousers, now slightly pink. Stupid Glenn and his helpless ass for mixing up the clothes doing the laundry.

He changed his clothes and put on the sneakers, at least they were the right size, not like the trousers a couple of sizes bigger than his. He folded the clothes and put them inside the pack, hanging it from behind the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door staring at the reunited group.

He clapped his hands twice making his way through the crowd making an effort to not touch any of them. He had enough last class with Jackson's missing arm at the end of it. He didn't want to smell like rotten flesh while walking down the street to attract more disdain stares than usual.

Beth was waiting for him in front the line of mirrors, hand on her hips and a bright smile. As soon as Daryl put himself beside her, he felt drowned for a moment by a helpless bewilderment feeling as every day since they were giving this task.

_"They are showing up some signs of humanity again. They are showing some signs that make us think that their brains are starting to light up again." They have told them on that meeting room with the oldest members of their group. "They need to readjust, to be a part of the society again or we will never get over it" Daryl had snorted at that without understanding what the hell did they want with all that crap. As soon as he heard the idea, his laugh died instantly, hearing a round of laughs coming from the rest of them. "They need to exercise and we want you and Beth to take care of that."_

Daryl blinked looking to the inconsistent line of walkers in front of them. They growls were lower than usual. Both of them could catch their effort trying to keep the line but giving little steps from the back to front, and vice versa.

Daryl linked his fingers on his head on stared back at Beth, who smiled up at him, trying to give him some strength to get through his bad mood. What did he do in his past so karma was putting his feet right up his ass like that? Okey, he was no saint, maybe he had killed a couple of hundreds of walkers like the ones in front of him and a couple of breathing humans but… _This?_

"Come on, Greene." He told her. Beth pushed the play bottom from a cassete player they have borrowed with a mix of old songs, from the eighty's and ninety's mostly.

He clapped again atracking the attention of the walkers. One of them growled deeper than usual.

"Don't even think that, Nibbler!" He snapped at him who growled lower this time moving his weight from one feet to another. "Let's see if you all remember what we learned last class!" He looked straight in the eye to the two of them, always straggling. They seem to be from the eldest of the group since their "true living death" and that was a handicap sometimes.

Daryl scowled hearing the song that was playing, Beth smiling be his side.

"You never heard one of their songs?" She asked, eyebrows raised, surprised. "Daddy never let me hear them but Mads had a cd and she let me hear it on her discman from time to time at lunch break."

Beth took the responsibility to run today's class and step up with both arms towards the ceiling and slightly spread legs. Daryl forced himself to not stare at her tight ass on those damn sport leggings, and copied her stance.

"So… One!" She said with her left hand on her hip, twisting her chest in that direction with her right arm stretched above her head. A crowd of grunts, falling drool, mental cussing, one by one all of them copied her stance. "Two!" She said moving to her right with her left arm up.

"Hook, do what she says or get the fuck out!" Daryl shouted to one of them.

"Daryl… He can't…" Beth whispered beside him without broking her posture, nodding towards the walker: he had one arm missing.

"He has a stump, he can lift it, come on!" He excused himself shrugging his shoulders trying to not look at the walker again feeling a bit guilty.

The minutes kept ticking and the song kept playing. With every move they made, Daryl's mood changed, from anger, to silent internal tears. From tears from sadness to laughing tears (hiding them as best as he could watching one of them losing half of his jaw). From painful tears to feel a pinch on his back. He was too damn old for all that shit. From pop they went to rock, from rock to heavy music, and from heavy to something classical.

When the class ended, a few of the walkers were on the floor, losing pieces of rotten flesh and painting the floor with dark blood drops.

"I think we all had enough for today" Daryl said staring at Charlie, a 7 year old boy who was hitting his head against the wall over and over again. "Enough, kiddo, enough." He said grabbing him from his shoulders making sure to not touch the melting skin on his bones and freeing him from a couple of ponds accidentally.

"Tomorrow, same time. Alright?" Said Beth drying the sweat from her forehead with her wrist ribbon.

Walkers hobbled towards the door so they could be escorted by the guards, leaving Daryl and Beth alone. The woman sat down on the floor and took a long swing from his water bottle, giving it to him when he lied down, forearm above his eyes.

"Tired?" She asked with an amused grin. Daryl looked at her, watching her smiling with the bottle in her hand.

"Watch your mouth, Greene", he said putting his weight on his right elbow taking the bottle and drinking the half of it. "They don't pay us enough, really."

"…Pay?" Asked Beth confused making Daryl gaze at her with surprise. Seconds later he was laughing without a care in the world, starting by a slow laugh until he couldn't hold himself straight up anymore.

"You are too good, princess" He said snorting when she hit him with her tiny fist.

* * *

_Well… this is it! I will not keep you away far more time from your real life, good fics or whatever hahahaha If you read it (without taking off your eyes from your face), thanks for doing it. I appreciate it. If you want to leave a review, feel free to do it. _

_Small details that I had on my mind while writing this crazyness: the outfit Reedus was using while filming "the crossbow training" video in Conan; and any Spice Girls song as the first tune on their class. _

_Sorry again for any grammar, spelling or "meaning" mistakes. I'm translating a fic from English to Spanish but it was more difficult to do the other way around. _

_See you around,_

_Ekhi_


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